Picker stick attachment



Aug. 4, 1959 W. R. VICKERS PICKER STICK ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 15, 1956INVENTOR. W/ZL/AM R. V/C/fF/Zfi ATTOAIVE/ J United States Patent PICKERSTICK ATTACHMENT William R. Vickers, Lanett, Ala., assignor to Georgia-Alabama Supply Company,'a corporation of Georgia,

Application February 15, 1956, Serial No. 565,725

3 Claims. (Cl. 139-154) This invention relates, to n attachment for a;picker stick and has for an object the provision of such an attachmentwhich permits the operating length, of, the picker stick'to be varied,thereby providing means for varying the power applied to the pickerstickas it strikes the shuttle.

Another object of my invention is to provide a picker stick attachmentof the character designated which shall include improved means forconnecting the lower end of the picker stick to the parallel motionstrap which in turn is connected to the conventional type coil spring.

A further object of my invention is to provide a picker stick attachmenthaving improved means for attaching the lug strap to the picker stick,thereby eliminating the use of power straps and the like.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an attachment for apicker stick of the character designated which shall be simple ofconstruction, economical of manufacture and one which may be readilyapplied to conventional type picker sticks.

As is well known in the art to which my invention relates, the shuttleis thrown across a loom to insert the filling between each pick of theloom. This is accomplished by means of a cam acting through suitablearms and levers and a lug strap to actuate a picker stick. The upper endof the picker stick strikes the shuttle a hammer blow and drives itacross the shed of the loom. The lower end of the picker stick isattached to a parallel motion strap which in turn is fastened to a coilspring which serves to return the picker stick to its original positionafter it has delivered the shuttle. The parallel motion strap also keepsthe rocker down on the shoe, thereby preventing it from springing upwardwhile picking. Due to the fact that a considerable strain is brought tobear on the picker stick by the picking cam, splitting of picker sticksis a common occurrence. Accordingly, it is very desirable not only toadd strength to the conventional type picker stick but to provide meansfor varying the amount of force applied to the picker stick.

I overcome the above and other diificulties by providing an attachmentfor a picker stick which permits the effective length of the pickerstick to be readily varied, thereby varying the power applied to thepicker stick. Briefly, my attachment comprises a vertical member havingupper and lower sections slidably connected for vertical adjustmentrelative to each other. The lowermost section is secured to the pickerstick and means is provided adjacent the lower end of the lowermostsection for attaching the parallel motion strap. The uppermost sectionof the vertical member is provided with lateral openings for attaching alug strap thereto.

An attachment illustrating features of my invention is shown in theaccompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevational view showing the manner in which theattachment is mounted on a picker stick; and

Fig. 2 is a front-elevational view of the attachment with the pickerstick lug strap and parallel motion strap being omitted for the sake ofclarity.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understand ing of myinvention, I show a picker stick 10 which ex, tends downward through arocker 11 and a shoe 12. Mounted on the shoe 12in the usual manner is acoil spring 13 which is connected to a parallel motion strap 14 in amanner well understood.

My improved attachment for the picker stick 10 comprises an elongatedvertical member 16. having an upper;section 17 anda lower section 18. As,shown in Fig. 2, the; lower section 18-is provided withan elongatedvertically extending slot 19. Extending. through asuitable opening inthe upper section 17 and passing through the elongated slot 19' is abolt 21; The upperand lower sections are adapted for sliding movementrela tive to each other and are locked in selected positions by means ofa wing nut 22 on the bolt 21. The vertical member 16 is provided with anopening 23 for receiving a bolt 24 which also passes through the pickerstick 10, as shown in Fig. 1. The bolt 24 is locked in place by means ofa nut 26 whereby the attachment is secured rigidly to the picker stick.The lower section 18 is provided with inturned flanges 27 and 28 whichare positioned at opposite sides of the picker stick when the attachmentis assembled, thereby limiting lateral movement of the attachmentrelative to the picker stick.

The lower end of the lower section 18 is provided with a hook 29 forreceiving the parallel motion strap 14, as shown in Fig. l. The uppersections 17 is provided with lateral openings 31 and 32 which arepositioned at opposite sides of the picker stick, when assembled.Passing through the lateral openings 31 and 32 and surrounding thepicker stick 10 is a conventional type lug strap 33.

From the foregoing description, the operation of my improved pickerstick attachment will be readily understood. The lower section 18 of theattachment is secured to the picker stick by means of the bolt 24 andnut 25, as shown in Fig. l. The upper section 17 is moved verticallyrelative to the lower section 18 until the openings 31 and 32 arepositioned the proper distance from the hook 29, thereby determining theamount of force applied to the picker stick by the lug strap 33. Thewing nut 22 is then tightened whereby the upper section 17 is. securedrigidly to the lower section 18.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have devised an improvedattachment for a picker stick which permits the effective length of thepicker stick to be readily varied. By attaching the elongated attachmentto the side of the picker stick, the overall strength of the pickerstick is increased. Also, by providing a hook at the lower end of thelowermost section, the parallel motion strap may be readily securedthereto, thereby eliminating the necessity of providing additionalsecuring means for the parallel motion strap. Furthermore, the lateralopenings 31 and 32 in the upper section 17 eliminate the necessity ofsecuring a power strap to the picker stick.

In actual practice, I have found that my attachment is satisfactory inevery respect and is particularly adapted Patented Aug. 4, 1959:

vertical member havingan upper section and a lower section slidablyconnected for vertical adjustment relative to each other, meansmaintaining said upper and lower sections in vertical alignment witheach other, means for attaching said lower section to the picker stick,means adjacent the lower end of said lower section for attaching theparallel motion strap, and means adjacent the upper end of said uppersection for attachsection, and lateral openings in said upper sectionfor receiving the lug strap.

3. In an attachment for a picker stick having lug and parallel motionstraps associated therewith, an elongated vertically extending memberhaving an upper section and a lower section adapted for sliding movementrelative to each other, an elongated vertical slot in one of saidsections, an attaching member extending through said slot in one sectionand connected to the other section, means securing said attaching memberto the section having said slot therein whereby the sections are held inselected positions relative to each other, means maintaining said upperand lower sections in vertical alignment with each other, means forattaching said lower sections to the picker stick, means adjacent thelower end of said lower section for attaching the parallel motion strap,and there being laterally spaced openings adjacent the upper portion ofsaid upper section for attaching the lug strap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS793,744 Schofield July 4, 1905 949,794 Derosier Feb. 22, 1910 1,481,195Gadue Jan. 15, 1924 2,140,675 Herron Dec. 20, 1938 2,461,138 BuchananFeb. 8, 1949

